U.S. Denies Plan for ‘Bloody Nose’ Strike on North Korea

The United States doesn't have a "bloody nose" strategy for North Korea, senators of both parties and a Trump administration official said Thursday, rejecting claims the U.S. wants to strike the North's nuclear program in a way that avoids an all-out war.

The harmonized message could quell speculation that President Donald Trump is contemplating limited military action to demonstrate U.S. resolve toward North Korea without provoking a wider conflict. Such a strategy would be widely seen as dangerous given the North's capability to inflict a devastating retaliation on U.S. ally South Korea.

A senior White House official, at a briefing Wednesday, told lawmakers no such approach has been adopted, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and James Risch, R-Idaho, said at a Senate hearing Thursday. An administration official who was testifying confirmed their accounts.

The White House had "made it very clear there is no bloody nose strategy for a strike against North Korea," Shaheen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was considering the nomination of Susan Thornton, Trump's choice to be the top diplomat for East Asia.